NBA: Boston Celtics VS Charlotte Hornets Pick and Predictions 01/14/2023

Game: 7:00 PM ET,  Saturday, January 14th, 2023

Venue: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, North Carolina

TV:  NBA League Pass

Celtics: 31-21, 1st place Eastern Conference

Hornets: 11-32, 15th place Eastern Conference

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  Celtics -8.5, O/U 231.5

PointsBet: Point Spread:  Celtics -8, O/U 232.5

Fanduel: Point Spread: Celtics -8.5, O/U 232

Celtics: SF Jayson Tatum, PF Grant Williams, C Robert Williams III, SG Derrick White, PG Marcus Smart

Hornets: SF Jalen McDaniels, PF PJ Washington, C Mason Plumlee, PG LaMelo Ball, SG Terry Rozier

An Eastern Conference scrum that will hardly be a battle.  The best team will play the worst team… and when the dust settles your only Great Betting Opportunity is how you feel about the Giant Point Spread coming down the pike.  The Boston Celtics are the league’s best team.  That is not an outrageous statement.  They not only lead the league in wins they lead the league in teamwork and balance.  The Celtics biggest problem this season has been the ehealth of the big men… but as they have dropped out of the lineup due to injury and returned to the lineup… The Celtics found ways to win.  When the Celtics are at full strength?.. They seem unstoppable.  That is what a team gets when they build a trio of great 2-way players like Tatum, Brown, and Smart…. And surround those guys with depth and quality vets.  This is a Championship team. The Hornets are an embarrassment.  Sure they are an NBA team with a high quality young PG, but that is it.  After that they have no reliable trio of anything… they have no depth.  The Hornets are so bad they actually took last place in the standings away from the Detroit Pistons.  The only hope for a team like this is to win the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery and land French teenager Victor Wembanyama… If they come in 2nd?... They are screwed because Scoot (the likely #2 pick) plays Point Guard!!  They would have to trade the pick and then rely on a piss poor front office to make the right moves going forward.  It’s not that the Hornets do not have players… They have Terry Rozier… and uh… uh the constantly injured Gordon hayward… and uh… uh… SF/SG Kelly Oudre JR… who might be a good NBA player… or may not be.  Multiple teams have already given up on Kelly. Outside of that… They have nothing except question marks and losses.  If the Hornets do not win the draft Lottery?.... The future is a decade of building away.

The Boston Celtics have won 8 of their last 10 games…. They are on a 5-game winning streak.  Important guys like Brown and Horford missed their last game against the Brooklyn Nets (who are and will be missing SF Kevin Durant) and the absences did not prevent Boston from getting a 109-98 win… which was also a big win ATS.  Both of the missing important players should be given this game off to make sure the rest and rehab gets plenty of time…. Because the Hornets are the Hornets and the Celtics do not need either of those guys to beat these guys.  In the win Jayson Tatum had 20 points 11 rebounds, and 5 assists… White had 15 points, Smart had 16 points, 10 assists, Brogdon had 16 points… and the Celtics did not need anything more than dribs and drabs from the rest of the roster… Oh and by the way?... The entire team played great team defense for long stretches.

The Charlotte Hornets have only won 2 of their last 10 games.  They are on a 3-game losing streak.  This team led the league in scoring last season (but still finished outside of playoff contention by a country mile) and this season have dropped to 22nd.  The missing leading scorer from last season’s team is PF/SF Miles Bridges… who was arrested in the offseason for felony domestic assault … he may have a 5 year prison sentence in his future and most likely will never be back in the league.  Sad because violence is sad, sad because stupidity is sad, and also sad because he was a year away from a MAX contract extension as one of the best young players in the league.  Charlotte will not recover from his stupidity soon.  They lost their last game to Toronto 124-114.  In the loss they got 32 points , 7 rebounds, and 6 assists from PG LaMelo Ball… 21 points from SG Terry Rozier… and lousy defense from everyone on the roster.  The team should honestly consider trading BOTH Ball and Rozier at the deadline… to ensure the worst record and a plethora of picks going forward.

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BOS: 31-12, 23-19-1 ATS, 22-20-1 O/U, 14-7 on the road.

CHA: 11-32, 18-22-3 ATS, 22-20-1 O/U, 5-14 at home.

Our prediction for Saturday, January 14th is…. Celtics 128 - Hornets 101

Blow out coming.  The Hornets are not a team even a little capable of team work.  They do not have the pieces.  The Celtics bench might beat the Hornets starters straight up… That is an extreme difference!  Plus the Celtics are great on the road while the Hornets are terrible at home.  Everything, every single metric, points to the Celtics.  A great 2-way team that should be touted as the team most likely to win the NBA Finals… will be playing the worst, most broken team in the entire league.  Bet on the Celtics and ignore any spread. 

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Boston is 2-1 ATS versus Charlotte at Charlotte the last 3 seasons.

Boston is 9-2 ATS when playing 6 or more games in ten days.

Celtics:  SG Derrick White.  Derrick is a guy who would be constantly in the starting lineup on most of the teams in the league.  The Celtics are so talented and deep at the guard position that Derrick plays in the starting lineup only when Brown or Tatum or Smart is missing from the equation.  If the Celtics are smart (and they are) they will keep Brown out ot ensure his health and go with White as the starter at SG.

Celtics: Joe “Who am I?.. Guess I have a lot to ponder” Mazzula

Hornets: Steve “Could I have some Forwards please?!” Clifford